The Culture of “Me”

Recently, I was shopping in a local store, when I heard a child screaming at her mother.  As I pushed my shopping cart past this scene, I noticed that the child was pointing at an object on the shelf and demanding that her mother give it to her.  The mother refused, which led to the screaming fit.  I felt bad for the mother who appeared to be attempting to set some boundaries for her daughter.  My sympathy was tempered, when I noticed that the 7-year-old was holding a super-sized slurpee and an open pack of cookies – probably right off a shelf in the store.  This mother’s attempts to enforce a boundary were undermined by 1) the large quantity of sugar the child had consumed, and 2) the inconsistency of telling her “no”, while letting her open a pack of unpurchased cookies.  I hope this was simply an isolated incident or a bad day for this family.  Unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident in our culture. 

We live in a “Me, First” culture.  We are all familiar with the excesses of our society.  One example from the news this week – our local NFL football franchise, the Detroit Lions is negotiating a contract with a first-round draft pick for many millions of dollars – a franchise that has a perennial losing record.  The sum total of all the salaries on this losing team runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.  At the same time, the school districts in the state (for a variety of reasons) are closing hundreds of buildings and failing to educate our young, thousands of local and county employees are being laid off, and thousands of children are living in hunger every day.  The contrast between the “haves” and “have-nots” is growing ever wider, and our culture tends to encourage these types of excesses. 

In the lessons that we cover this week, the writer of Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2 talks about the futility of work and labor – “Vanity, O vanity, all is vanity.” He is talking about the fact that we work our whole lives, and at the end of our lives, we leave it all behind.  Jesus also takes a dim view on the ultimate value of our possessions.  He tells a parable about a rich landowner who takes great pride in building bigger and bigger barns to hold all of his stuff.  The landowner is quite smug about his possessions and the life of luxury that they grant him.  However, at the end of the parable, God has a sharp word of condemnation for the landowner, saying that his life will be taken from him at that very moment.  Jesus wanted his followers to understand that a person’s happiness cannot be based on stuff, accumulation, wealth, security, or worldly concerns.  In the end, it will all return to dust, and we will have nothing.  The “Me, First” culture of north America often leads to disappointment and sadness, no matter how much stuff we accumulate.  In fact, some of the richest people often have some of the lowest levels of happiness.  Did you know, the majority of all professional football players are in bankruptcy within two years of retiring from football – Vanity, O vanity, all is vanity?

The old Bible song points us to the antidote….

Seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things shall be added unto you.

Alelu, Alleluia.

We can best overcome the “Me, First” attitude, when we make sacrifices for God and God’s children.  We ome closest to God’s ideal for us, when we take time out of our schedules to volunteer to help those in need.

Next week, our church will be working on a Habitat for Humanity project in Burton.  Paid for by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, this Thrivent Build will ensure that a struggling family is able to buy a decent affordable house.  This is a great project to help us battle the “me, first” attitude on the world around us, by first encouraging us to put someone else first in our own lives.  For more info about the Habitat Humanity project and Thrivent Builds, follow this link: http://www.geneseehabitat.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=91.  

Together, as individuals and as a church, we can battle the “Me, First” Mentality and replace it with a God-first mentality, which will lead us all to real life.

Is the Devil for Real?

When people think of the devil, they often have a figure in their mind that is eternally opposed to God, with the power to devastate and destroy those who love God.  In the media, the devil is often pictured as either a character in a red suit with pointy ears, a pointy tail, and pitchfork; or a smooth-talking, sharp-dressed character in an Armani suit.  In both cases, the characters are very obviously evil in their words and deeds.

Do I believe in ”the devil”?  If you mean the scary-looking guy in the red suit with a pitchfork, then the answer is “no”.  Instead, I believe in many small “devils” in our world, which are much more insidious and dangerous than one “devil” could ever be.  These devils are around us to subtly tempt us, telling is the very things we most desire and want to hear.

In the Bible, what we think of as “the devil” goes by various names – Satan, the devil, the adversary, and the serpent.  In each case, the entity is opposed to God and God’s agents.  We see Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness, trying to get him to look out for himself and turn away from God’s mission of salvation for the world.  In the Garden of Eden, the serpent tempts Adam and Eve to turn their backs on God and become like God themselves.  In each case, temptation is the tool that the Adversary to God uses.  One only needs to look around us in the world to see that temptation has been, and always will be, around us.  If temptation is present, there will be “devils” who attempt to lead us away from God.

I have just returned from a week at confirmation camp.  While there, the campers were cut off from the internet, with no access to media, computers, phones, and most technology.  Even the adults leaders had greatly reduced access to technology, which I can say was difficult at times.  Evidenced by the fact that I couldn’t write this blog until the end of the week. 

At the same time, there was a sense of freedom from being away from most emails, phone calls, TV shows, and computers with their websites and even blogs.  I took time to walk in the woods with Nathaniel (my son) watching deer and hunting for turtles, talking with good friends, and listening for God.  It is not that technology is evil.  Tehnology is a tool that can be used for good as well as evil purposes.  However, there are many times those who would turn us away from God use technology to draw us away from our ultimate source of hope, healing, and love.  When we use the media and technology around us, it gives us unlimited access to both the good, and the evil, in the world. 

Do I believe in devils?  Yes, I do.  They are all around us and they draw us away from God.  The Bible talks about powers and evil forces that are arrayed against us, that draw us away from God, and that seek to drive a wedge between us and God.  Jesus regularly cast out demons and evil spirits.  Those evil spirits did not go away with Jesus death and resurrection.  I believe they are still alive and well, working to subvert God’s people.  Maybe they work in more subtle ways, but they are still around.  The very fact that they work so subtly is perhaps the greatest - they are all around us tempting us with some of the greatest things we love and depend upon – replacing God with things of our own creation. 

Devils are certainly real, but so is God, and God is the one who has the greater power.  In Romans, St. Paul says, 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

While there are certainly thing in creation that oppose God, God is the ultimate victor.  Jesus has defeated death and the devil or all time.  While devils are all around us to tempt us, they can never completely separate us from God.  Good is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.

What Will Happen When I Die?

Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust.  Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.  These are the words I speak on Ash Wednesday, as I place ashes on the foreheads of those who come forward for the imposition of ashes.  The first phrase is also spoken at the graveside, as a person’s body is commited to the ground. 

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.  I have said those words fairly frequently lately at the gravesides of relatively young men – 3 in six months.  These men died much sooner than many would have thought that they should have died.  Their lives have been cut short, their families are grieving, and they will be missed.  Ashes to ashes and dust to dust – words that remind us of our mortality and the fragility of life. 

Ashes to Ashes and dust to dust.  Do our lives end in dust?  Are these men reduced to just a pile of ashes?  What happens now to these men?  And by implication, this question makes us also wonder, what happens to us when we die?

What happens to us when we die?  As a person of faith, I believe that when I die I will see God.  As Jesus says, “³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”   John 6:39-40  My faith tells me that when I die, both I and all of God’s other children, will be with God.  There is nothing, not even death itself, that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  When I die, I will be with God.

Being with God sounds great on the face of it, but what will heaven and the afterlife really be like?  As a child, I used to worry about heaven.  I imagined that heaven was this place that you went and just sat around thinking about God, singing, and going to church all day.  As a youth, that seemed as appealing as a long visit to the dentist’s office.  As a result, I was actually a bit afraid of heaven.  I was sure that I was going to be bored out of my mind.  I like singing, but that sounded like a bit too much singing, especially when it was going to last for all eternity!  Even the idea of eternity itself sounded a bit daunting, as eternity is soooo long – what could I possibly do for all that time without it getting incredibly dull? 

Today, I view heaven a bit differently.  The honest truth is that we do not know what heaven/the afterlife will be like – no one does.  Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel that he was “going to prepare a place for us.  In his father’s house, there are many rooms, and he was going to prepare them for us.”  Now, should we read that literally and believe that heaven will be a huge house with many rooms?  Probably not.  Jesus point was more that he was going to prepare a place for us to be with God, and he used the metaphor of a house, because that is what the disciples could most easily understand.  Further, he wanted the disciples to know that God also understood their individual needs – Jesus was preparing a specific place for them, taking into account their very specific needs.  The place that Jesus was preparing was for them.

Heaven is not a place to fear or about which we should worry.  Heaven is a place where God and his people will reside together, where “God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).  On this side of death, there can be so much pain, loss, fear, and suffering.  When we die, we leave all of these things behind us.  Even though we may not know specifically what heaven is like, we can know that we will not need to fear the concerns that we have had in this world.

 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, the one believes in me will never die.”  This is my reason for hope.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, at the end, I will rise from the dead as well.  I no longer fear death.  While I may not know exactly what eternal life will be like, I know that at the minimum I will be with God.  If I am with God, it will most certainly be great! 

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.  I will be leading a memorial service at the end of this week.  For me, this is not a cause for great sorrow and fear.  There will certainly be sadness, because the man who died will certainly be missed by those who knew him – including loving parents, a caring sister, and two promising sons.  At the same time, his family knows that while the man’s earthly life is over, his next experience will be to see God and live in God’s presence.  While his earthly existence is over, he will spend eternity with God – and it won’t be just sitting around and singing, but it will be a time of eternal joy in God’s loving embrace.  Ashes to ashes and dust to dust – because of Jesus, this child of God will join all the others who have gone before in living for a joy-filled eternity in God’s joyous presence. 

Why don’t we see miracles today?

In our world today, there are so many challenges and needs.  Again and again, people pray for miracles, but they just don’t seem to happen very often, at least not like they used to happen…

• A large crowd of people listening to Jesus teach become hungry, and Jesus multiplies five loaves and two fish to feed all 5000 people…
• A Roman centurion’s daughter is sick.  Jesus is called, and he comes and heals the man’s daughter….
• One night, the disciples are in a boat on the lake when Jesus miraculously appears before them, walking on the water.  Even more amazing was when Jesus called Peter out of the boat to join him in walking on the water….

 John’s Gospel said that Jesus did many other signs and wonders, but they couldn’t all be recorded in this book, but these were written so that we would believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. 

 The old and new testaments are full of stories of miraculous deeds and amazing signs of God’s power.  Today, there are some people who are wondering why we do not see these types of signs and miracles any longer.  Where are the miracles that seemed so common back in Jesus’ day? 

 As we wrestle with this question, we have to explore what we view as a miracle.  Is a miracle something that defies any earthly, regular explanation?  Are miracles things that are uncommon or special, which at the same time may have some type of explanation other than the supernatural?  Are we limiting miracles to only those things that could be done by God?

 In our world today, there are many people who doubt that miracles happen at all.  In fact, they even doubt that miracles have ever happened.  This general doubt about the reality of miracles is a product of the enlightenment, and it is nothing new.   Thomas Jefferson commented in his writings on his disbelief in the miracles of Jesus, since they could not be proven scientifically.  In our world, unless we can prove something scientifically – unless we can touch it, see it, taste it, or hear it – it doesn’t exist.  This world-view does not leave much room for miracles, because at their heart, miracles are things that cannot be explained in human terms or through human means.

 At the same time, there are many things that happen in life that cannot be explained through everyday, human means.  We can attempt to find scientific explanations, but often scientific reasoning cannot explain everything under heaven and earth.

 I have personal experience of the miraculous.  Two years ago, my mother had major cancer surgery, during which, things went very wrong.  My mother started bleeding uncontrollably.  The doctors did everything within their power to save her, utilizing every technique and tool within this advanced hospital operating room, but nothing worked.  Finally, the doctor practiced basic first aid – simply having a resident apply direct pressure to the wound that was gushing blood.  At that point, in his words, all they could do was pray.  He then came out to tell us the very grim news and explain how bad the situation looked.  He came out to prepare us for her death.  However, when he went back to the OR, he found that the bleeding had stopped and she had stabilized.  The doctor had no explanation for why the bleeding stopped.  Medically, they had done everything they could to stop the bleeding, and yet it wasn’t enough.  Despite this, I spent last Saturday with my mother, eating her fried chicken, and admiring her gardening skills.

 Why don’t miracles happen today?  I believe that miracles do in fact happen today, but we don’t always see and acknowledge them.  Maybe, we experience miraculous things and attribute them to human, earthly causes (who said God could not work through humans).  At other times, there may be miraculous events happening around us and we are simply not looking for them.

 Miracles are a matter of faith.  There are all types of amazing things happening in the world around us, if only we have eyes to see them…Albert Einstein famously said, “The way I see it you have two ways to live your life: the one as if no miracles exist and the other as though everything is a miracle.”  If I had to choose between the two, I would certainly choose the latter.  I would rather believe and trust that God is good, even if I cannot always understand how God is working.

Finally Free!

This weekend, we celebrate our freedom as a country.  As individuals, we have been given the great gift of freedom, bought and paid for by the blood of many patriots over the years.  Over this weekend of picnics, beach parties, parades, and fireworks, we cannot forget the reason we can celebrate.  Our freedom came with a price, a sacrifice many of us might pause before making.

At the same time, this weekend reminds me of my spiritual freedom.  God is a just God, a God who holds people accountable for their sins and errors, their disobedience and willfulness.  Every person sins, and therefore, every person has failed in the eyes of God.  No matter how good we try to live, we are captive, enslaved, prisoner to our sin and sinful nature.  Despite this, God has freed us through Jesus.  We are free, not because of anything we have done, but through the actions of Jesus.  We are free! 

This leads to the question – Will God still love us when we disappoint God?  

The Great News that God gives us is, “Yes!”  God loves us with a crazy, unbelievable, out-of-this-world love.  Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son to help us to know this truth.  God not only welcomes us back home, God watches for us and rushes out to find us and bring us home again. 

There is a great song performed by Chris Tomlin that perfectly illustrates this truth called, “Come Home Running.”  Check out these words…
Oh heart of mine, why must you stray?
From one so fair you run away
And one more time you have to pay
The heaviness of needless shame

Oh heart of mine, come back home
You’ve been too long out on your own
And He’s been there all along
Watching for you down the road

So come home running
His arms are open wide
His name is Jesus
He understands
He is the answer
You are looking for
So come home running
Just as you are

Oh child of God so dearly loved
And ransomed by the Savior’s blood
And called by name, daughter and son
Wrapped in the robe of righteousness

Oh, Child of God, so dearly loved.  Come home running, just as you are!  You and I are dearly loved.  Have you ever experienced God’s love in this way?  Who shared that love with you?  Have you experienced this radical acceptance and forgiveness in your own life?  Maybe it was the forgiveness of a parent or significant other, a co-worker or friend.  We all need to feel this kind of forgiveness in life, even if it is only the forgiveness that God gives to us.  This kind of forgiveness and acceptance leads us to come home running.

On this Independence Day weekend, we celebrate our freedom as a nation, but we should also our spiritual freedom, won for us by Jesus.  Being able to celebrate our religious freedom and worship God is one of the freedoms that our forebears won for us.   This holiday weekend, find some way to worship God and give God thanks for all the freedoms that we enjoy! 

God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.